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No Model.) I I J. A. DOWER. A

MACHINE FOR BENDING, SHAPING, AND SETTING THE TIMBERS OR FRAMES 0F BOATS 0R SMALL VESSELS.

Nb. 333,615. Patented Jan. 5,1886

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES A. DOWER, OF HONOLULU, HAWAII, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO GEORGE P. CASTLE, OF SAME PLACE.

MACHINE FOR BENDING, SHAPING, AND SETTING THE TIMBERS OR FRAME S OFEBOAIS R SMALL VESSELS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 333,615, dated January 5, 1886.

Application filed July 1, 1885. Serial No. 170,397. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES A. DOWER, a subject of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and a resident of Honolulu, in the Island of Oahu,

Sandwich Islands, have invented certain Improvement-s in Machines for Bending, Shaping, and Setting the Timbers or Frames of Boats or Small Vessels, and for other purposes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a machine or apparatus which I call a molding-platform, for bending wood or metal, and especially for bending, shaping, and setting the timbers used in the construction of boats; and the object is to accomplish the work more rapidly and more accurately than by the ordinary means,

and to provide for varying the curves as may desired.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is aperspective View of my improved molding-platform, and Fig. 2 is a section taken in the plane of the line 2 2 in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 illustrates a modification that will be described hereinafter.

I construct a platform of planks, A A, secured together by cleats, A A, so as to leave spaces or slots, at, between the planks, to make room for the use of movable clamps. These 0 planks A may be faced with metal, and they are perforated with numerous holes I) b, closely distributed over the surface to receive movable pegs or bolts.

About equidistant from the ends of the plat- 5 form, and mounted on the same, is a metal plate, 13, which extends over two or more of the planks A, as shown. This plate may be secured in any way, but I usually provide it with end flanges and clamp it fast with a setscrew, 0.

In the plate 13 and the platform, also below the plate, I form slots, (Z d, having lateral branches d d at their lower ends. In these slots are placed upright studs 6 e, which may be set anywhere in the slots and secured by clamping-nuts e e, or in any other equivalent manner.

Coupled or hinged to the studs 6 e, respectively, are two flexible strips or bars, 0 O, preferably of steel, and of any suitable width.

These bars may be bent and moved freely in any direction over the platform, and should, when designed for bending boat-frames, be long enough to reach from keel to gunwale of the boat-that is to say, they should be long enough to accommodate the timber or bar to be bent.

The manner of using my invention is as follows: The studs 6 e are set and secured in the slots (1 d in the proper position-that is to say, the measurement from outside to outside of the studs should equal the width of the keel. The proposed form or mold is now drafted on the platform in the same manner as on the floor of the molding-loft, bolts or pegs ff are fitted into the proper holes I), and turnbuckles or screw-couplingsgg, which are coupled at one end to the bars G, are coupled at their other ends to the pegs f, as clearly shown, and the bars G adjusted by means of said turn-buckles to the lines drafted on the platform. Any good form of screwcoupling may be employed. I On the heads of the turn-buckles that are attached to the bar 0 are formed jaws, which embrace the edges of the bar, but permit it to be moved endwise in or between the same. This is in order that the turn-buckles may be conveniently set to suit the curvature of the bar at the points where they brace and hold it. The platform being now ready, the wood to be bent (if wood is being operated on) is taken from the steamchest, its middle clamped to the bars 0 at the posts 9, and its sides bent up on each side and clamped close to the said bars 0, whereby it is made to assume the exact shape or curve of the bars. Thus a continuous strip or frame is bent, extending from gunwale to gunwale without butt, lap, or joint.

Single frames may as readily be made with go shorter material by shaping and clamping to one bar, 0, instead of to both.

The frame when formed may be braced or rioboned and removed at once.

Frames on the dead rise of the keel may be bent by raising the studs 6 in the slots (1, to correspond with the rise indicated by the draft on the platform.

In bending mctal-as iron, for examplethe metal is of. course heated; and, if the heat I00 is found to injure the bars 0, some suitable material may be placed between them and the hot metal.

My platform can be used with only one bar, 0, and without the slotted plate B, by using a peg or bolt in one of the holes of the plat form, as shown in Fig. 3; but I have found the construction shown in Fig. 1 the best for practical molding.

Some of the advantages of my invention are ease and rapidity of work, eXactitude of mold ing, saving ofjoints, butts, and laps, and dis pensing with skilled labor.

One great advantage is that the machine or platform is portable and may be taken to and used at any convenient place.

My machine or platform is not confined to bending the frames of boats, but may be employed for almost any purpose where Wood or metal bending is required, as for bending window-heads, furniture, boat-knees, stems,

breast-hooks, 8:0.

I am aware that it has been proposed to employ a form in bending-machines composed ofa series or chain of non flexible blocks set to the proper curvature, and this I do not claim. I employ a continuous flexible bar or strip which possesses some elasticity, and which curves at every point, thus producing in the bent piece amost perfect curve, which rests against the form at all points. Where the form is made up of blocks a brace must be provided behind every block and the curve will be made up of a series of short, straight lines.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. The combination, in a bending-machine,

of a platform, a flexible continuous bar, 0, to form a moldingbar to bend on, and screw .couplings or devices, substantially as described, arranged behind the said bar, and at tached at one end to said bar and at the other end to the platform, whereby the said bar may be adjustable to the proper position on the platform and held in that position during the bending process, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, in a bending-machine, of the platform, the continuous flexible bar 0, and the turn-buckles g, attached at one end to the said platform and having at theirother ends jaws which embrace the edges of said bar 0, but leave it free to be moved endwise in said jaws, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, with the perforated platform, of the slotted plate B, affixed there to, the flexible bars attached at one end to the plate B by studs 6 e, which pass through the slots therein, the said studs. the turnbuckles attached at one end to the flexible bars and at the other to the platform by pins, and the said pins, all substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, with the platform, the flexible bars, the studs 6 e, and the means, substantially as described, for imparting the proper curve to said bars and for securing them in position on the platform, of the plate B, provided with slots d, having lateral branches d, said studs 9 being located in the slots (1 and adjustably secured therein, substantially as set forth.

Honolulu, May 29, 1885.

JAMES A. DOI/VER.

Vitnesses:

A. 0. SMITH, JONA. AUSTIN. 

